The 43 Habits of Absolutely Happy People – AKA the Happiness Manifesto

Welcome new readers! Well the Start of Happiness has now been live for one week and what an awesome week it has been. The feedback has been absolutely amazing and already we have over 100 subscribers , over 1,400 twitter followers have had more than 3,000 visits from all over the World! If we keep this up the happiness is going to spread FAST!

First up, I would just like to say a huge thank you to those that have taken the time to email me and introduce themselves while sharing their thoughts on starting the happiness in their lives. I’ve read every single one of these and have responded accordingly. All the emails have meant a huge deal to me and I would love to hear from others as well, even just to say hi!

Earlier this week we heard from 27 experts of personal development, happiness, business and life around the one thing that they would change to live a more fulfilling and happier life. The responses set the ground for a number of operating principles of living a happier life. To Start the Happiness, there are a number of principles that we can live by which will help us live a happier and more fulfilling life. They are the foundation of what brings happiness and what we can do to make a difference in the World.

I like to call it the Happiness Manifesto.

The Happiness Manifesto

Enjoy This Manifesto? Please Share!

Note: This is meant to be a reference point moving forward. I will delve deeply into each of the topics and provide challenges so we can all practice and experiment in each of the realms of the manifesto. Feel free to print the manifesto, pin it up on your wall, share it on facebook and keep it at the front of your mind.

The Happiness Manifesto

Happiness is a Choice

When you wake up in the morning, how do you choose to live your day? In this very instant, you can choose to be happy and simply do what you love doing.

Smile at the World and the World will smile back

It’s a well-known fact that smiling is contagious. When you smile to others, no doubt about it you will be making the other person feel pretty damn good about themselves and they will be in a more positive frame. Most likely, they will smile back at you!

Connect Deeply

When we talk with others, share experiences with others, listen and care for others, we are connecting with the other person and building a relationship. A key component of happiness is connecting deeply with those around you.

Be Kind

When someone is kind to you, it makes you feel happy. This works the other way around as well! Be kind to others and it will make you happy! What have you done today that was a kind gesture to another person?

Love Fully

Who do you love and who loves you? Have you let them know recently that you love them? Loving fully, openly and honestly helps build relationships and trust and brings about enormous happiness not only in yourself, but in those that you care about most.

Find What Makes You Happy and DO IT OFTEN

We are all completely unique. We all have different backgrounds, different personalities and therefore difference preferences. Explore the world and try new things. Find out what makes you happy. If you know what makes you happy, then you can simply DO IT and turn it into an essential part of your life.

Forgive Yourself

If you have previously made an error and are carrying weight on your shoulders, perhaps now is the time to drop the baggage and enable yourself to move on and start the happiness.

Forgive Others

If someone has let you down, there is no need to let this drag out and feel down on an ongoing basis. Forgiveness is a key component of being able to move on with your life and restoring happiness to its highest levels.

Eat Healthy

You are what you eat. Eat happy foods! And that doesn’t mean McDonalds. Eating healthy foods has a positive impact not only on your health, but also your moods and cognitive ability.

Exercise Regularly

Regular exercise can help reduce stress while releasing endorphins and serotonin, key ingredients of experiencing feelings of happiness. The best part though, is that you look awesome and you become physically fit!

Challenge Yourself

Try out new experiences. Push your boundaries. Set yourself goals and go beyond what you think is possible. Challenging yourself and pushing your boundaries will help you become more self-aware as well as more self-confident, and give you wider experiences ultimately leading to increased happiness.

Hug Your Family, Hug Your Friends, Hug the WORLD

There’s something special about the touch of another person. There’s something even more special around physically embracing and hugging another individual. Give happiness and feel happiness by hugging those around you!

Think Positive

You can achieve what you believe. Not only this, but if you see the positive in life and in situations that a presented to you, you will physically feel happier and be more successful in your pursuits.

Treat Yourself

What little things make you feel happy? Treat and reward yourself when you have achieved something and let the feelings of happiness flow!

Relax

Take some time out. Go on a holiday or read a book, perhaps do some meditation or simply get some rest. Relaxing brings about happiness. What do you do daily to relax?

Have Fun

We all have to do certain things in life, we eat, we walk, we talk, we sleep, and we can choose to have fun in everything we do. Life is not meant to be serious. We are here for only a few short years so make sure you’re having fun while living!

Trust in Others

Be open to others and trust in them. Trusting others can relax and calm you and give you confidence. It helps build relationships and ultimately leads to happiness.

Be Trustworthy

Know that you are trustworthy and be trustworthy. Similar to above, being trustworthy helps you to have confidence in yourself, can relax and calm you and helps build relationships with others. Most importantly, being trustworthy means that you are being open, honest and transparent with yourself which is an essential ingredient for experiencing happiness.

People often say that they will be happy if they find love, or they will be happy if they are successful in a certain area in their life. Although love and success can bring happiness, it is ultimately happiness that brings about love, success and life fulfilment.

Set Your Own Goals

Goals are super important for giving you a sense of direction and purpose. By knowing where you need to get to, you can make choices that are aligned to your path. Setting your own goals gives you a feeling of purpose, confidence and ultimately happiness.

Learn and Experience Everyday

Stretch your mind and build your life. Keep learning every day and experience new things as much as possible. You never know, you might just learn that the new experience you do today is the best and most fulfilling thing you have ever done in your life.

Life is Exciting. Life is Your Choice. Life is Fun.

We live for a very short time on this Earth. You only get one life and we never know when it will be taken from us. You can choose how to live your time on this Earth. The possibilities are endless. Life is exciting, life is fun, and life is about experiencing absolute happiness.

Count Your Blessings

Your health, your family, your community, your ability to be able to go on the internet and read this right now, are all things that many people in this World do not have. Taking time out to look at your life and count your blessings can help you realize that there is no reason you should be feeling anything other than happiness.

Give to Others

Think not only of yourself but of those around you. Give to others generously. What you give is what you get. Feel good about yourself for giving generously and I’m sure you will again feel happiness when the giving returns to you.

Laugh Out loud

Laughing is a sure-fire way of making you feel good about yourself. But don’t just laugh, laugh out loud and laugh with others. Feel the chuckle in your belly and laugh till you cry!

Sing

Singing and listening to music has physiological effects which can shape our mood, ultimately helping us to be happy. Sing often, listen to music often and whistle often and no doubt you will feel an uplift in your mood, instantly!

Dance

Shake your booty, get physical and become super-happy while dancing the night away! Dancing is a super-fun way of getting exercise, helping to release endoprhins and lift your mood. Dancing also helps you express your creativity, your personality and enhances you relationships with those that your dancing with.

Go a little bit silly!

Going a little bit silly helps you to relax, have fun and just enjoy the present. When you’re going a little bit silly, there are no worries in the World and you create your own fun. If you’re going a little bit silly with other people, this helps to deepen your relationships with them. The best part about going a little bit silly? It’s just super-stupid-fun!

Travel the World

Experience everything that this beautiful planet has to offer. Travelling the World will open up your eyes to new experiences and new cultures and will also help you become aware of your blessings and be grateful for what you currently have.

Know Yourself

Understanding yourself, your values, your beliefs, your motivators and ultimately what makes you happy is essential for being able to make choices to live the life that you want to lead. Knowing yourself will help you fly through life and experience ongoing happiness in whatever it is that you pursue.

Be Resilient

Change is imminent and just to keep things interesting, life always throws curve-balls. Know that change is something that we all experience and know that maintaining or regaining feelings of absolute-happiness are results of being resilient and tackling life with a positive attitude when the going gets tough.

Say I’m Sorry

If you have made an error or a mistake or have impacted someone or something in a way that you’re not proud of, simply say “I’m Sorry”. Saying from the heart that you’re sorry will help you feel better about yourself and not ‘bottle it up’ and will also let the other person know that you are genuinely sorry.

Say Thank You

Be appreciative for the things that are given to you. Simply saying “Thank You” can not only make you feel better, but it can make a world of difference to the person that you are saying it to.

Say I Love You

No need to hide the feelings inside. Let your feelings out by saying “I Love You” to those that you care about most. You will feel absolute-happiness for doing so and you will make your loved ones feel even more happy and loved.

Help and Teach Others

Lend a helping hand or pass on your knowledge to others. Feel good for knowing that you have made a difference in someone else’s life. You will feel the happiness in knowing that you have spread the happiness to others.

Feel the Sunshine

Simply feeling the suns’ rays on your skin can make you feel happier and best of all, give you a nice looking glow! If you’re spending too much time inside, head outdoors and feel the warmth of the sunshine.

Be Brave

Stepping outside of your comfort zone and taking risks can not only help you to build your confidence but it can lead you to something special that you may not have had otherwise.

Be Excited

Whatever it is that you are going to be doing today, it’s something to be excited about! No-one else on this planet gets to be able to live the same life as you do, so be excited in knowing that you a creating your own unique life journey.

Be Creative

Foster your creativity by exploring different avenues such as painting, drawing, singing, innovating, creating or building just to name a few. Letting our minds go on a journey fosters not only happiness but your ability to be creative and have fun with life.

Be You

An absolute essential for living a super-happy life, you need to be you and not what you think others think you should be. Do the things that you want to do and be the person that you know you are. Experience harmony between your values, your beliefs and your actions and feel the joy of happiness that it brings.

Live Your Passion

You may have many passions or you may have a few. Understand and know your passions and live them out on a daily basis. Incorporate them into your daily life and experience the happiness of doing what you love.

Live Your Purpose

What is your purpose in your life? What do you want to achieve and what legacy will you leave when you are no longer here? Finding your purpose and pursuing this on a daily basis will help you live a life of happiness and help you leave a legacy of happiness within others.

Change the World, One Smile at a Time

You CAN change the World, one smile at a time. A smile from you can make all the difference in the life of another. You may never know the impact of what your smile may mean to another, but it may mean the World to them.

The Bonus +1

There is a number 44 for this list. This is an essential ingredient for living a happy, successful and fulfilling life. It combines every single one of the 43 habits above. Without this, you can feel overwhelmed, miss out on opportunity and not experience all that life has to offer. With this, you will be able to experience all the 43 habits above, giving time and energy to each, satisfying your lifes needs and ultimately living a more satisfying, fulfilling and happy life.

Your Turn to Start The Happiness

Now that we have gone through the Happiness Manifesto, you need to actually act on it and make the happiness come alive in your own life, and when I say come alive, I mean COME ALIVE! It’s up to you to make the difference in your own life and to impact the lives of others around you.

Try embedding one of the habits at a time. Use the happy challenges as a catalyst for making the difference. The most important thing is that you actually take a step. Build the momentum as momentum can be an amazing thing.

This is your community. I can post the content but you can make it happen. I would love to hear your thoughts on the above. Which of these habits do you currently master? Which of these habits do you struggle with? I would love to hear your thoughts! I read each and every comment, so please share your thoughts below, even if it is only a sentence! Looking forward to Starting the Happiness with you!

Comments

So many ways to make your life happier here, just reading through them puts a smile on my face. What I find motivating is that even adding a few of these principles into your life (as you say, a step at a time) will make a real difference.

Thanks for sharing your happiness manifesto, Brendan (and congratulations on your site launch, sounds like it’s going to be a huge success).

Love the fact that it put a smile on your face, Indigo. That’s what it’s all about! 🙂

So true in that all it takes is adding a few of these to your life to see a huge difference. Even just starting with one and implementing it into your life will enable you to feel happier, perform better and become more successful in your pursuits.

Hi Brendan,
I really enjoyed this. I am finding a lot of very positive things like this are starting to
come into my life. Haven’t quite made it to the forgiveness thing yet but am definitely moving forward in my “Start of Happiness”. I have a long way to go but have already come far.
thanks. It means a lot for me to have this to lean on.

Brenden, what a great list of happiness habits! I look forward to sharing this with colleagues, friends and family. You have a great site that will help many people learn how to be happier and more fulfilled in life.

Happy to report that I do actually practice all 43 (44) of these – about 28 years ago I in a very dark place and the one thing that turned it all around for me was a little piece of advice I heard or read somewhere “it takes less energy to be happy than sad”.

So I tried it – instantly the huge weight of sadness, worry and anxiety were lifted from me and I though wow, that’s right.

I haven’t looked back since – over time acquiring, practicing and making the above my own so that now happiness or what I refer to as a gentle joyous continuum is my daily companion and always within reach – just a breath or a smile away.

I like Wayne Dyer’s words in his book “gifts from eykis” too – “There is no way to happiness, happiness IS the way”.

oh my! dis z awesome… I was moved to tears while reading this write up considering d opportunities I have missed cause I didn’t practice any previously but now m smiling nd tryna absorb this nd move on. tnx alot Brendan…love you * wink*

Great article I’m definitely gonna share it with a friend of mine who could need this more than ever. 43 (44) Habits sounds like a lot but it makes you a better person so we have to try and implement those every single day in our lifes

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